Yesterday I finished reading Winston Churchill: An Informal Study of Greatness by Robert Lewis Taylor. It was published in 1952 in the US, and I picked up my copy at Gold Beach Books in Gold Beach, Oregon, last February. I had been interested in Churchill for a while, and I liked the idea of buying a book used, and I found one, and it was only six dollars, so I went for it. It has taken me over a year to finish reading it, but that's not really a reflection on the quality of the writing. I just googled Mr. Taylor, and apparently his 1958 novel The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters won the Pulitzer prize for fiction. He also wrote for the New Yorker and the Saturday Evening Post. Pretty good taste, I'd say, by the book buyers at Gold Beach.
Winston Churhill was actually quite funny, and I laughed out loud a lot. Taylor spends a ton of time on Churhill's early life, from childhood until his political career began. In contrast, there were only about 20 pages about World War II, maybe because the book was written only a few years after it's conclusion. The author also points out, several times, Churchill's personal policy against giving free interviews or information out to journalists; apparently, if anyone was going to make money writing about Churchill it was going to be Churchill. All in all I enjoyed the book, but I also kind of feel like I got a monkey off my back. If you're interested, drop me a line and I'll lend it to you.
I've now started To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - should be interesting. I've wanted to read it ever since seeing Benny and Joon, in which Joon references Boo Radley, a character in the novel. Actually, probably half of my motivation for reading classics is so I get all the jokes and references in pop culture. I don't know what the other half is.
In other news, Michelle and I watched This is Spinal Tap last night. I was surprised that I hadn't seen it before with Mike, Luke, Tony, Joel, or the rest of the Red Deer crew. It seemed right up they're alley. What's up guys?
Winston Churhill was actually quite funny, and I laughed out loud a lot. Taylor spends a ton of time on Churhill's early life, from childhood until his political career began. In contrast, there were only about 20 pages about World War II, maybe because the book was written only a few years after it's conclusion. The author also points out, several times, Churchill's personal policy against giving free interviews or information out to journalists; apparently, if anyone was going to make money writing about Churchill it was going to be Churchill. All in all I enjoyed the book, but I also kind of feel like I got a monkey off my back. If you're interested, drop me a line and I'll lend it to you.
I've now started To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - should be interesting. I've wanted to read it ever since seeing Benny and Joon, in which Joon references Boo Radley, a character in the novel. Actually, probably half of my motivation for reading classics is so I get all the jokes and references in pop culture. I don't know what the other half is.
In other news, Michelle and I watched This is Spinal Tap last night. I was surprised that I hadn't seen it before with Mike, Luke, Tony, Joel, or the rest of the Red Deer crew. It seemed right up they're alley. What's up guys?
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